


i love you (2000)

by neopunch (caihongs)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 4 + 1 fic, Alternate Universe - High School, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Minor Lee Jeno/Mark Lee, Strangers to Lovers, composer/producer!donghyuck, minor jaemyang, museum curator!renjun, stephanie poetri thank u for putting this idea into my pea brain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22084402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caihongs/pseuds/neopunch
Summary: Renjun hasn’t been quiet about their life beyond this apartment but Donghyuck is not one for subliminal messages. From when he confessed under that tree in ninth grade and Renjun could see the younger’s eyes burning holes into his lips, he’s come to realise for a fact that Donghyuck and subtle do not go hand in hand. So either he isn’t meaning to leave his tabs open or his laptop lid up, or he really does want Renjun to get down on one knee but doesn’t want to ask. For some odd reason—somethingis up and Renjun will find out sooner or later.Alternatively, four times that illustrate Donghyuck's realisation that he wants to husband Renjun up and the time he actually does.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, minor Lee Jeno/Mark Lee - Relationship
Comments: 23
Kudos: 185





	i love you (2000)

**Author's Note:**

> i love you 3000 by stephanie poetri but make it Gay and for my favourite 2000 line boys.

I.

Donghyuck Lee didn’t know how he managed to score Renjun Huang. As a friend, and as a lover.

Donghyuck, who attempts to consume all foods in one mouthful no matter the size, who loves to terrorise his older brother Taeil and his boyfriend Johnny just for the fun of it, who cons his friends into sharing homework answers because he knows his puppy eyes could break down the most stoic man into a shell of who he once was.

The same Donghyuck, who managed to get himself in a group project with Renjun, some pop song analysis presentation that Donghyuck was going to put minimal effort in, because one, their teacher was an absolute stick in the mud with a reedy voice and oily comb-over. Two, it was Grade Eight Music for God’s sake, if there was anything, any grade Donghyuck could give less of a care about, it would be this forsaken subject.

  
  


But when Greasy Hair announced to the class of thirty dazed kids, “Donghyuck Lee and Renjun Huang, you boys will be working together,” Donghyuck froze in his spot and when the Chinese boy waved from across the classroom, he bit his lip and waved back, hoping he didn’t look like too much of an idiot in that moment. Renjun Huang was not just any boy, he was someone Donghyuck had been wanting to be friends with since seventh grade when he won an award for his portrait of IU. Call it a friend-crush, a deep yearning to get to know someone because they’re so cool and you’re a bit of a loser in comparison. 

  
  


They huddled into a corner, and Donghyuck decided then and there, in their cramped space next to the keyboard where he could count Renjun’s eyelashes one by one, he was going to put his all into this dumb project and make the best Goddamn Poster Board anyone had ever seen. 

  
  


But when Donghyuck asked his partner (and his soon-to-be-best-friend), what time he was free so they could work on the poster (which Donghyuck insisted would have flaps and envelopes with cards of information, hence why they needed more than just class time to work on it), Renjun just scratched his nape sheepishly.

  
  


“I was honestly planning to put little effort into this, and just write down the research in metallic marker and present that, but I guess we can meet tomorrow afternoon? This looks like it will take a little while,”

  
  


Donghyuck internally howled before putting on a small, small smile.

  
  


“Haha, right, but yeah tomorrow afternoon works for me too,” 

  
  


They ended up getting the highest grade out of the entire class and while Greasy Hair congratulated the two with a thin-lipped smile as he handed them back their poster, Donghyuck put on a fake smile and tugged Renjun to his side.

  
  


“I know I probably came off as an overachieving ambitious nerd two weeks ago but I swear I hate this subject with my entire being.” he murmured between gritted teeth as Greasy rambled on about trying your hardest and not getting too bogged down by marks you weren’t particularly happy with to the rest of the dull-eyed students in the class.

Renjun turned to him and quirked up an eyebrow.

  
  


“Then why did we pour our hearts and souls into buying five different types of cardboard and learning to do proper calligraphy from Youtube, if you didn’t care?” 

  
  


“I didn’t want to come off as a slacker.” The amused smile Renjun wore was doing nothing to ease Donghyuck’s flaming cheeks.

  
  


“So you decided to come off as the one person in this entire class who actually gives a shit about Year 8 music?” 

  
  


Donghyuck coloured even more, his neck now a brilliant shade of ruby, and Renjun couldn’t contain his laughter. 

  
  


“Hey you boys at the back! Just because you got the highest score in this class does _not_ mean you can disrespect your fellow peers who have tried hard, if not harder than you—” 

  
  


A loud snort escaped Donghyuck and Renjun almost choked on his own saliva.

  
  


From then on, you could say the two were some unconventional peas in a pod, seemingly disgusted at the sight of each other, throwing curses every other period, but also ready to fuse at the hip whenever the teacher even uttered the word ‘partner’ and ready to fight anyone who dared to badmouth either of the two.

  
  


Constantly competing for grades and ranks they didn’t care about, attacking sore points, whether it be height (“Piss off ‘Hyuck, you’re not even that much taller than me!”) or strength (“You _know_ this is my weak arm!”, “Just admit that you’re weaker than Renjun,”, “You don’t get to say anything Jisung!”), anything under the sun they could compete with, they did.

  
  


But Donghyuck knew, in the very depths of his bottomless heart that was probably too big for his own good, that he liked it when Renjun would sit himself on the edge of his desk before class started and tell Donghyuck in a hushed whisper that he beat him again in their most recent maths topic test, liked it when Renjun grinned at his victories and how he subconsciously pouted when he didn’t. He liked it when Renjun would make sure he slept before eleven so that Donghyuck would wake up in time so they could walk to school together, through a flurry of texts with varying degrees of urgency, depending on Donghyuck’s reply time and how close it was leaning to the twenty-third hour. He liked it when Renjun would shove a spoonful of braised meat, steamed vegetables, and white rice into his mouth from his thermos, still steaming with warmth. He liked it when Renjun smiled, with and without the snaggletooth he had when they just started high school, soon to disappear with braces. Liked it when the Chinese boy would hold his hand, pinky interlocking with his absentmindedly in his lap as their Geography teacher implored the class to realise the significance of rocks in telling history. Donghyuck realised soon enough, that this comprehensive list didn’t even encapsulate everything that he liked about Renjun. He decided that he liked Renjun more than a best friend and a competitor in their silly game that none of them really wanted to win anyway. 

It took one summer’s day, as when all good things do unfold (Donghyuck’s birth for one, and that miraculous sweltering afternoon where the humidity seemed to settle like a thick blanket over the classroom where their friendship blossomed), when the two of them were sitting out on the silver seats that were under the big tree by the field, where shards of sunlight could still fall over their creased uniforms and scuffed backpacks. When Renjun looked particularly dashing, all honey skin and silky black hair, some of which was strewn over his eyelids, and bow-shaped lips that Donghyuck had known he’d been wanting to kiss for at least a whole year. 

  
  


“Renjun,”

  
  


“Yes Donghyuck?”

  
  


“I like you,”

  
  


The elder blinked open one eye, arm shading himself from the sun rays and lifted his head slightly to get a good look at Donghyuck, who was leaning on one arm and staring right back at him.

  
  


“As in—”

  
  


“As in I want to kiss you,”

  
  


Renjun slowly peeled back upright and ran a hand through his hair. Donghyuck had been desperately wanting to do that for the past year as well.

  
  


“Well, what are you waiting for,”

  
  


He surges and the giggle that Renjun makes as Donghyuck threads his hands into his hair is something he wants to swallow and keep in his chest forever. 

II.

“So, when are you popping the big question?”

  
  


“I should be asking you that,”

  
  


Donghyuck raises his eyebrows at his friend’s lit screen, a portrait mode photo of a blonde grinning in a tank top and board shorts at the beach.

  
  


“Jeno says he wants to meet my family up north before we do anything,” Mark says with an air of nonchalance and Donghyuck rolls his eyes.

  
  


“I’m sure that’s not the only reason, you can’t fool me Markie,” he takes a sip of his matcha latte and raises his eyebrows again and almost immediately, Mark shrinks into his seat.

  
  


“I’m scared! Like Jeno said he’d rather meet my family first before we get settled down, but I know he wants to do so many things like travel, get that promotion at work, maybe even study for a bit longer— what if this hinders that?” Mark points at the imaginary ring on his fourth finger with wide eyes and Donghyuck grabs his hands and clasps them with his own.

  
  


“We agreed not to think that way, didn’t we? It’s not like this sudden change in relationship status is going to suddenly obstruct all his future plans. You guys can tie the knot and he can still do everything you just listed! Marriage is supposed to be a partnership that you willingly commit to for the rest of your lives because you love them, it’s not going to or even supposed to push both of your individual dreams and aspirations down the drain. If anything, you guys can now achieve those goals by each other’s side, you know, for better and for worse and all that.” Donghyuck grips his best friend’s hands a little tighter and sighs.

  
  


“I know that you know Jeno would never think that way, he’s the love of your life.” Mark sniffs, eyes softening and tense shoulders slackening, falling back to curve against the cushioned chair. 

  
  


“I know you’re right, but still, it’s terrifying,” 

  
  


“I know Mark, but you’d rather enter a haunted house with someone you know and love, right?” Donghyuck reasons with a lilt to his voice and Mark looks up to him from under his fringe and smiles.

  
  


“I guess so,”

  
  


Donghyuck squeezes the elder’s hands in his own one last time before dropping them abruptly and picking up his cup.

  
  


“If I’m not your best man, your wedding is going to flop, I don’t make the rules around here,”

  
  


“Not unless Jeno bags you first,”

  
  


“Hey, that’s bold of you to assume Jeno is going to say yes,”

  
  


“ _Dude_ ,”

  
  


III.

“Hey, do you think Yangyang will propose first, or Jaemin?”

  
  


Renjun peers out from under the sofa throw and looks up at his boyfriend.

  
  


“Hyuck, Yangyang is still distraught over asking him to move in, when Jaemin has literally been living with him for the last three months, using those towels we bought them for their _housewarming_ party,”

  
  


Donghyuck thinks back to the couple’s housewarming (or just _house_ party, to Yangyang) party, in which he and Renjun had bought them matching towel sets that matched remarkably well with their bathroom colour scheme. Jaemin accepted the gifts with a wide smile on his face, pressing them in hugs of gratitude while Yangyang only stood there, stunned as he stared at the two sets of towels, beige, blue, and white in colourway and then back at his boyfriend. 

  
  


“Hm, you’re right,” Donghyuck threads his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair, now a hazelnut brown, but still as soft as it was all those years ago, and smiles to himself, bottom lip caught between his teeth.

  
  


“And what are you smiling about sir?” Renjun squints at him from his lap, body curled enough for his knees to touch Donghyuck’s sides.

  
  


“Nothing,”

  
  


Renjun nudges his knee into Donghyuck’s side.

  
  


“Tell me,”

  
  


“It’s nothing baby, just go back to sleep.” Renjun frowns and makes it his mission to yank Donghyuck down and onto his side, so that they’re facing each other and Donghyuck’s legs are half hanging off the couch and folded uncomfortably under Renjun’s.

  
  


“I’m not going to leave you alone until you tell me what you’re grinning about,”

  
  


“I was just thinking about when you asked me to move in, that’s all I swear,” Donghyuck puts his free left hand up in surrender and Renjun’s forehead creases further.

  
  


“Your lease was ending at the end of the month, and you weren’t looking for a new place on purpose, you essentially moved yourself in and the only thing I asked if you if you preferred toilet paper facing up or down,” 

  
  


Donghyuck only pets his boyfriend on the head patronisingly.

  
  


“Yeah _yeah_ technicalities, c’mon let’s nap, then we can order pizza and watch the new season of Peaky Blinders,”

  
  


Renjun eventually concedes, but the suspicion never leaves his eyes and Donghyuck knows he can’t hide anything from his lover, so he settles with distracting him with food and Cillian Murphy.

  
  


It sits on top of the fridge, next to the self-raising flour and the chocolates that Renjun can’t reach unless he uses the stool from the bathroom. 

A princess cut diamond set tiffany style with a silver band. He’d bought it a few weeks ago, when Renjun was at work, working on the new exhibition at the museum and Donghyuck managed to slip into the jewellery store just before his lover got home for dinner.

Purchased with minimal conversation with the overwhelming retail workers, he walked back home and threw the box up in the air a few times, playing with the literal and figurative weight of the box.

  
  


They hadn’t spoken about it explicitly, just the offhanded “did you want to check out that open house this weekend babe?”, implying that they should move out of their cosy but dingy apartment and move into a house with a backyard, and more than one bedroom. Also, Donghyuck’s Pinterest is nothing if not a huge fat ‘wedding inspo’ pinboard. 

They don’t have to do the big wedding, even though Donghyuck knows his parents will insist on at least a wedding in Korea, if not, China in Renjun’s hometown. But they could also invite their close friends, parents and siblings, and have a small little affair at the cove that they always drive down to in the summer. That’d be nice, and having the wind billow through the white linen curtains would be a perfect shot for the wedding video.

But, Donghyuck doesn’t get too ahead of himself and tucks the thoughts into the very back of his mind, to muse over later. First thing on the agenda would be dinner for his boyfriend.

  
  


IV.

“Hyuck, let’s get a rabbit,”

  
  


“A rabbit?”

  
  


“Jaemin’s cousin is selling rabbits,”

  
  


“Do you know how to look after one? And what we’ll need to buy and what it can and can’t eat? We’ll have to bunny-proof the apartment too, you know that right? It’s like taking care of a child—”  
  


“And I trust that you’ll be a great dad Donghyuck Lee,”

  
  


Donghyuck splutters and Renjun snorts softly.

  
  


“Don’t spit everywhere, you’ll get sauce on your shirt,” he wipes away at Donghyuck’s mouth with the napkin, and Donghyuck tries his best to clear his throat.

  
  


“W-What breed are the bunnies?”

  
  


“Rex? I think, like Peter Cottontail, look he sent photos,”

  
  


**_jaemin_ **

1:32PM

_hey injun_

_my cousin is selling bunnies, you n hyuck keen?_

_image_001_

_image_002_

_Image_003_

1:35PM

_lol you guys can practise for parenthood_

  
  


Donghyuck tries not to be too visibly shaken by the most recent message.

  
  


“Aw they’re precious! Jun, can we get two?” he pulls out the puppy eyes and Renjun pushes his pouting lips away with his index finger.

  
  


“Was already planning to, they like company,”

  
  


“Aw, they’re already so much like their parents!” 

  
  


“Okay, this is coming from the guy who choked at the thought of becoming a dad,”

  
  


“Hey! At the compliment, not at the thought,”

  
  


“So you’ve thought a lot about it before?”

  
  


Donghyuck colours and his boyfriend only grins.

  
  


“If it means anything, I can’t wait to start a family with you,”

  
  


Donghyuck wants to smush his face into his aglio e olio.

  
  


V.

Bruno, their grey Rex, has resumed his natural state in front of the TV, presumably watching the rerun of some afternoon cooking show, nestled in the corner of the armrest and sofa cushion while Renjun folds the laundry besides him.

  
  


Donghyuck is out working, producing a song for one of the new survival shows in Korea coming up next fall, so Renjun’s assigned himself house chores to busy himself while he waits for his boyfriend to return. 

  
  


“Bruno, did your dad say anything about a ring to you?” Renjun asks the rabbit, who doesn’t spare him a glance despite his ear peeking up at the sound of his name.

  
  


His partner has been acting odd in the past few days, blatantly leaving his laptop on the dining table with all his tabs open, namely all wedding-related, from a wedding expo happening next month, to wedding instagram accounts, and vlogs and wedding videos uploaded by a flurry of different influencers and Youtubers. It’s as if he’s hinting to Renjun that he should propose _now_.

  
  


Renjun hasn’t been quiet about their life beyond this apartment but Donghyuck is not one for subliminal messages. From when he confessed under that tree in ninth grade and Renjun could see the younger’s eyes burning holes into his lips, he’s come to realise for a fact that Donghyuck and subtle do not go hand in hand. So either he isn’t meaning to leave his tabs open or his laptop lid up, or he really _does_ want Renjun to get down on one knee but doesn’t want to ask. For some odd reason— _something_ is up and Renjun will find out sooner or later.

Maisie peeps out from behind the pot plant with a half-chewed piece of paper in between her teeth, and Renjun drops Donghyuck’s trashy American flag boxer shorts on the floor in an attempt to catch the beige coloured rabbit. 

When Donghyuck comes home later that night, bones and voice weary from work, Renjun doesn’t mention it, and only offers his arms and a cup of honey lemon water. 

  
  


Donghyuck doesn’t mention anything the day after, or the week after. But the tabs come and go, to be replaced with new tabs, more wedding venues and a Google Sheets that compared the prices of several, _and_ floral arrangement pinboards. Renjun is dying to ask but he can never seem to catch his boyfriend free.

  
  


“Hey ‘Hyuck, do you have a second? I need to ask you something,” Renjun asks as Donghyuck stacks his bowl in the sink after dinner.

  
  


“Yeah, what’s up?” Donghyuck leans back on the marble counter and starts to dry the dishes Renjun has already washed.

  
  


“Are you expecting me to—” 

  
  


Red Velvet’s new song starts to play from the living room and Donghyuck’s ears perk up. 

  
  


“Oh, that must be Taeyong, he’s probably getting back to me about the song I submitted!” Just like that, his boyfriend is gone again, picking up the phone and thirty seconds in, Donghyuck throws him a thumbs up and Renjun assumes that yes, it is going to be used by the show for the finale episode of the survival show. 

  
  


“We’re going to the Maldives next summer with the royalties I’ll get from this song,” Donghyuck says as he scoops up Renjun in his arms and swings him around in their tiny kitchen and a warm laugh bubbles out of Renjun.

  
  


“I’m so proud of you,” Renjun says with Donghyuck’s face in his hands, kissing him on the nose before he gets back to washing the dishes. The question can wait for later.

  
  


“You know, I couldn’t have done it without you, you’re the one that convinced me not to trash the file.” Donghyuck shakes his head vehemently when Renjun frowns. 

  
  


“I didn’t even know that you were thinking about giving up on it when I told you I liked what you played for me last month,” Donghyuck wraps an arm around Renjun’s waist and squeezes, dropping his head on his shoulder.

  
  


“But that’s just the thing, I never tell you how I’m feeling but you always know anyway.” Renjun can see Donghyuck’s reflection in the glass on the wall in front of the sink. His eyes are trained on him, and Renjun stops scrubbing the frypan.

  
  


“Renjun, I’m pretty sure I’ve loved you since you won the portrait prize for your painting of IU in Year 7, and I think that set a precedent for our relationship,” Donghyuck says, so matter-of-factly that Renjun snorts to himself. So their entire relationship was built on the foundations of his relatively impressive portrait painting of his girl crush in middle school. Renjun isn’t mad about that.

  
  


“I guess I should thank Miss Lee Jieun for everything,” Renjun peels off his pink rubber gloves and tugs Donghyuck closer to him with a grin that stretches from each cheek plastered on his face. 

  
  


“I guess you should also thank her for this too.” Donghyuck gently pries himself out of Renjun’s embrace and reaches for the top of the fridge, all the while still looking Renjun in the eyes. With the poise and elegance of a modern dancer, he opens the small velvet box in his hand and gets down on one knee at the same time.

  
  


“Huang Renjun, I want to be gay and do crime with you for the rest of our lives, will you marry me?” 

  
  


Tuesday night. Two twenty-five year old males in the kitchen of their one-bedroom apartment, who co-parent two bunnies together. Renjun is certain about a lot of things. The Earth is round. Climate change is truly upon us. Aliens are real. The structure of governing bodies foster corruption.

He loves Donghyuck more than he could love anyone else in this entire world. 

  
  


“Yes.” Donghyuck’s yells are drowned by Renjun throwing himself in his lap and tackling him to the tiled floor, kissing all the breath out of him.

  
  


“And all this time, I thought you wanted _me_ to pop the question,” Renjun says when they’re in bed after, black hair matted to his forehead and Donghyuck cackles to himself, turning over to face Renjun with his arms outstretched.

  
  


“Ha, fooled you didn’t I? I bought the sparkly rock a month ago,” Donghyuck cradles his _fiance_ in his arms, nuzzling his face into the crook of his neck and Renjun giggles at the sensation.

  
  


“I wondered why you hadn’t finished making dinner when I came home after finalising the exhibition,” 

  
  


“Just admit that I beat you to it, loser,” and in response, Renjun pinches him in the thigh and Donghyuck almost explodes when a tent forms under the thick duvet.

  
  


“Oh my God, _Donghyuck_ ,” 

  
  


“Shut up!” 

  
  


Renjun dives under the covers and Donghyuck, underneath his sheen of sweat and burning cheeks, can’t wait to spend the rest of his life like this. His newfound pain kink and getting the blowjob of his life are just bonuses.

**Author's Note:**

> i was listening to i love you 3000 for three hours straight when i wrote the first 2k words of this and well, i can't stop thinking about married renhyuck with their rex bunnies and donghyuck getting the best s*** of his life. when mandu told the tl to write their writing goals for the new year, this fic was on my list and i'm proud of myself for getting it out so soon! i love renhyuck with my too, bottomless heart and i hope you enjoyed reading :)
> 
> love oaf
> 
> p.s. favourite line?


End file.
